The teacher who was attacked at a school in Corsicana earlier this month is talking about what happened. Candra Rogers is an assistant principal at Collins Intermediate School.
August 15, she says a behavioral teacher called for help on the school's radio system. Rogers went to the room and says the teacher and students were already outside.
"One student was holding his head having been assaulted by the student remaining in the classroom," Rogers says.
She went inside and found the student was still upset and the room "ransacked with overturned furniture."
"I knew I had to be as calm as possible, and I spoke lowly and slowly so as not to enrage him any further," Rogers says.
She says the student then threw a chair at her. She caught it in the air but says he threw another chair when another assistant principal came in.
"I used the first chair to block the second," she says. "He picked up a third and threw it at the other assistant principal. I used the initial chair to block the one he threw at her."
Rogers says the student then threw a wooden hanger, hitting her in the eye, knocking it out of its socket.
"I grabbed my face while blood was pouring out of my head and stumbled out the classroom door," she says.
Rogers was flown to Parkland Hospital. She says doctors were able to reattach her eye, but they said she is not likely to see out of it again.
Rogers does not yet have a timeline to return to work. Corsicana ISD says the student who hit her is in a restricted location and not on campus.
The district says it has forwarded the case to the Navarro County district attorney, and further action will be taken by the juvenile justice system.
The Texas legislature has not increased per-student funding since 2019, and when reading a statement Tuesday, Rogers said she hopes her case will lead to an increase in money for schools from the state.
"The State of Texas has a $32 billion surplus," she said. "I'm not a mathematician, but to have that abysmal level of spending in a booming state economy simply does not add up. Simply stated, Texas is vastly underfunded."
Without an increase in funding, Rogers says school districts cannot keep up with the cost to support struggling students, including discipline and enrichment.
Rogers' daughter-in-law has started a fundraiser to pay for medical bills. Tuesday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised about $6,300 with a goal of $60,000. You can see the page here.
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